Crazy mockingbirds

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On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 16:51:35 +0300, "Marina"
wrote:


"Kreisleriana" wrote

Some birds are so pumped up with adrenaline when they see a cat --
or any potential predator-- that they can get the predator to back
off, or even flee.

And you probably thought swallows are sweet little birdies. Just ask
Frank what *he* thinks. There he was, ambling along the cliff
minding his own business on the island last summer, and suddenly a
swallow swooped out of nowhere and dove at him. Frank ducked and got
away, but the look on his face was priceless. "Mummy! They're
picking on me! I wasn't doing anything!"

I once saw a mockingbird literally back my father's cat into a
corner, under a lawn chair on his front porch. The bird was
strutting back and forth on the porch, scolding. It was only about
18 inches (half a meter) from the cat, but the cat was so intimidated
that it was trying to get away from the bird, not catch the bird.

This same bird once pecked me on top of my head as it flew by,
because I was too close to its nest.

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--
John F. Eldredge --
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"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
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